Syrian security forces have intensified their bloody siege against anti-government protesters, sending the three-day death toll above 100 as President Bashar al-Assad's international isolation deepens.
Rights activists and witnesses Tuesday said troops and pro-Assad “shabbiha” militiamen attacked the flashpoint city of Hama for the third day in a row, killing three more people and sending other residents fleeing for their lives. Most of the deaths in Mr. Assad's three-day military assault have occurred in Hama.
Italy became the first European Union country to recall its ambassador from Syria, citing what it called the “horrible repression of the civilian population.”
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Syrian political activists in her first attempt to reach out to the expatriate opposition since the start of anti-government protests.
Russia, a longtime ally of Damascus, suggested for the first time Tuesday that it would not oppose a United Nations resolution to condemn the violence. Moscow has long resisted any such measure by the U.N. Security Council, where it holds a veto.
But the Russian Foreign Ministry cautioned that any resolution – or some lesser form of reprimand – should refrain from sanctions and other unspecified “pressures.”
The Council met for a second day Tuesday to discuss possible action to punish Syria.
It debated a European-drafted, U.S.-backed resolution that calls on Syria to stop assaulting its cities, implement political reforms and launch an impartial investigation into attacks on anti-government protesters. Diplomats say Brazil has submitted alternative proposals and that efforts are under way to merge the two measures.
Also Tuesday, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights warned Syria that “the world is watching” developments there. Navi Pillay bluntly criticized what she called Mr. Assad's efforts to shield the brutality of its crackdown by banning most foreign news coverage and preventing a U.N. fact-finding mission from visiting.
Rights groups say Syrian forces have killed at least 1,700 civilians since the largely peaceful uprising began in March. The government has blamed much of the violence on what it says are terrorists and militants who have killed nearly 400 security personnel.
